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ISO/IEC 15118 Testing Symposium took place on Nov. 7th – 9th in Korea

The CharIN e.V. participated as one of the sponsors at the ISO/IEC 15118 Testing Symposium which took place on Nov. 7th – 9th at the Korea Smart Grid Institute (KSGI) on Jeju Island, Korea.

The goal of the Testing Symposium was to provide non-competitive, non-binding verification of compliance to the ISO/IEC15118, DIN 70121, SAE J2847/2 standards and interoperability of digital communication between electric vehicles and charging stations. Participants of this event were representatives of a wide range of manufacturers from the automotive and infrastructure industry from all over the world, including CharIN members like Daimler, BMW, GM, Tritium, Applus IDIADA and Gridwiz.

The participants tested various software and hardware implementations of their products. Manufacturers of EV, EVSE and testing equipment assessed in real time how their products communicate and respond when cars are charged under different testing conditions. More importantly it allowed the engineers to fine-tune the software for both EV and EVSE before their company’s products are released to the market.

Jens Schmutzler of TU Dortmund (CNI) has been organizing such events since 2014. Four years earlier a Research Project (www.enterop.net) was started to ensure an interoperable communication between electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. It quickly became clear that real-life testing together with industrial partners would support this feat. With the development at TU Dortmund of automated test sequence equipment based on software and hardware that assesses the interoperability of system components to the conformity of ISO 15118, the symposiums came to life.

Over the years of overseeing those symposiums, Jens Schmutzler has noticed excellent progress in how the manufacturers have been interpreting the ISO 15118 standards. Fundamental error mismatches are a thing of the past and he now sees only minor errors popping up because of the stricter interpretation of the standards.

He expects to have commercially available conformance test equipment on the market that third party test centers could use to approve EV and EVSE equipment. This will allow reducing the frequency of such events from currently two to once a year.

With the upcoming 2nd edition of the ISO 15118 standards, which includes wireless charging and bus pantographs, additional test symposiums could be reasonable.

The participants see such Testivals as an excellent initiative: Carlos Galindo of IDIADA (Spain) found it the best opportunity to test different types of vehicles and chargers in one location. Also the possibility to meet everyone face to face allows for future discussions by e-mail.

Ms. Liu of Neusoft (China) a company developing electric vehicle and supply equipment communication controllers wants to make sure that compatibility can be guaranteed with EVSE equipment from all over the world, because Chinese carmakers want to be ready for this market. Such a symposium is ideal for conformance testing. Thanks to this event Neusoft also sees the advantages to join CharIN in the near future.

Xavier Casley of Tritium (Australia) said: “Flying over from Brisbane with a complete 50kW EVSE was worth every penny, as it allows to test new functionalities on different devices, new cars according to current ISO standards.”

Andreas Heinrich of Daimler (Germany) stated: “Trying to organize one-to-one meetings with so many players from around the world is difficult to arrange as a company. Also the market is evolving so fast that a Testival like this, is a unique way to meet with new players, talk to participants and experts with deep knowledge on the subject.”

A Korean participant who has been attending each and every Testival can’t get enough of it. Because such an event can solve so many problems on the spot that otherwise might take days or weeks to overcome. Also an important part of the Testival is the possibility to openly discuss problems with other participants and stay in contact through email.

Jonathan Fremerman (GM) exclaimed “Great! And more than necessary because small issues need to be caught before product release.” He was also hoping that additional EVSE makers would attend because the learning curve is so steep that the more participants attend the better.

The last word goes to Teddy of Gridwiz & Ms. Lee of KSGI who both worked tirelessly to make this event come to life. “Jeju Island wants to be CO2 Neutral by 2030 and only EV’s will be allowed on the road. Therefore the location of this year’s Testival was ideal to prepare for the future.” Ms. Lee who never attended such event, was astonished by the professionalism and dedication shown by each of the participants working on making conformity a reality rather earlier than late.

CharIN appreciate the success of the Testing Symposium and is lucky to had been supported this event not only by sponsoring, but also by participating with members and representatives of the association. The results from this event will also influence the work of the CharIN focus groups in the future.

Information about CharIN e.V.The Charging Interface Initiative e. V. - abbreviated to CharIN e. V. - is a registered association with over 50 members. It is open to all interested parties. The three primary aims are to roll out and establish the Combined Charging System (CCS) as the global standard for charging battery-powered electric vehicles of all kind, to draw up requirements for the evolution of charging-related standards and set up a conformance verification system for use by manufacturers implementing the CCS in their products as well as to promote the CCS standard worldwide.